Nordea Investment Management AB Acquires 2,677 Shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,449 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 2,677 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.16% of Acuity Brands worth $14,602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 28,846 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $6,965,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at about $3,849,000. Hancock Whitney Corp increased its stake in shares of Acuity Brands by 42.0% in the third quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 6,477 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $484,000. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 21,285 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $5,862,000 after purchasing an additional 2,773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Acuity Brands Trading Up 3.0 %

AYI stock traded up $9.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $312.99. 552,569 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 503,714. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $214.32 and a one year high of $337.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $315.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $280.14.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The firm's revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.72 EPS. Research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Acuity Brands

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares in the company, valued at $2,573,590. This represents a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AYI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Acuity Brands in a report on Monday. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $304.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $328.20.

Acuity Brands Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.